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Norway votes in close general election

Pierre-Henry Deshayes

Norwegians were on Monday voting in a general election predicted to go to the wire, as the ruling left-wing coalition fights for survival despite a robust economy based on its oil wealth.

Opinion polls put the Labour Party and its junior partners neck-and-neck with four right-wing opposition parties who want to oust the left but have yet to agree on an alliance to take over.

In a poll published on Monday by business daily Dagens Naeringsliv, the outgoing coalition was credited with a majority of 88 of the 169 seats in parliament. The right wing, dominated by the populist Progress Party, was seen winning 79 seats, while the far-left could win two seats, the poll said.

Voting began on Sunday in 205 of the 430 municipalities for practical reasons.

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"I voted for the Labour Party because I agree with their slogan 'everyone on board'," 25-year-old police academy student Helga Oestebroe said after casting her ballot at Oslo's city hall.

Labour Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg, in power since 2005, has campaigned on his success at steering Norway through the global economic crisis with little harm done to the economy, thanks to the state's dutiful investment since 1996 of nearly all of its oil revenues in a massive state pension fund.

The "oil fund", invested in international stocks and bonds and designed to finance the generous social welfare state the day the wells run dry, was worth 277 billion euros (395 billion US dollars) at the end of June.

While most western economies have been floored by the economic crisis, Norway, the world's fifth-biggest exporter of 'black gold' which has twice rejected EU membership in a referendum, experienced only a brief recession and enjoys Europe's lowest unemployment rate at just 3.0 percent.

"The Labour Party has the best policies for stabilising the economy and protecting jobs, and also for care for the elderly, education and transport," Stoltenberg said as he voted in an Oslo school on Sunday.

Yet many Norwegians are frustrated over what they perceive as a dilapidated welfare state despite some of the highest taxes in the world, and complain that they have not reaped enough of the benefits of Norway's oil wealth.

"Norway is doing well because we have oil, not thanks to the government's policies," commented Ole, a 53-year-old engineer who said he was "leaning towards a change" of power Monday because he wanted to see a better business climate.

The right wing has vowed to implement tax cuts and privatisations.

"We are not going to tear down the welfare state," stressed Conservative Party leader Erna Solberg, 48, seen as Stoltenberg's main challenger.

The Progress Party, credited with up to 25 percent of voter sympathies and headed by 40-year-old Siv Jensen, has meanwhile pledged to use more of the oil wealth to improve the welfare state and invest in infrastructure.

The government is only allowed to use four percent of the oil fund to balance its budget in normal times.

But the Progress Party, which has criticised what it perceives as the "sneak Islamisation" of Norwegian society, has divided the right-wing.

Two centre-right parties have refused to collaborate with the populists because of their anti-immigration stance.

If the left-wing fails to retain its majority on Monday, the fractions on the right could pave the way for either a minority government led by the Conservative Party's Erna Solberg or a minority Labour cabinet.

Minority governments are common in Norway, where members of parliament are elected to a four-year term.